KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/DickinsonHarmon House Volunteers

Harmon House Volunteers

The 2011 Mouse River Flood left its mark on the Ward County Historical Society, taking a number of antiques and archives this summer, many of them priceless.
Jennifer Thorgramson tells us how volunteers are piecing history back together.

Nestled on the North Dakota State Fairgrounds is a Pioneer Village and since the flood, a ghost town.
The general store, the blacksmith shop, and Immanuel Lutheran Church are boarded up and silent as a mouse.
(Sue Bergan, Site Director) "All of those are in very bad shape. Very flooded and most of the archives in those were lost."
The Samuelson House once stood decorated as it had looked a century ago.
Now those relics that are showing their age, and it has nothing to do with time.
But there is an upside to this story.
The Harmon House sits higher than Pioneer Village, and it's there that the paper and photo archives for our community are kept, safe and dry.
(Sue Bergan, Site Director) "It is the history of this town, Minot and the surrounding area. It's so important to keep that history alive."
As a part of Minot State University's volunteer day, students and staff have spent the last few days volunteering in two hour shifts.
(Sue Bergan, Site Director) "Ninety percent of them forget when the two hour shift is up. They just keep hanging in there and working with us. I was so amazed by how enthusiastic and excited the young people are. I figured they'd think, 'oh it's just old junk, but they're so excited about it and as they've been helping to inventory and clean, they get side tracked with just looking at things because they're so excited. That's so important, so that our young people know what it was like living back in the early 1900's and can experience it through what we've restored here and what we've kept here for them to see."
Bergan says it may not be this summer, but the Pioneer Village will be back for future generations.
In Minot, Jennifer Thorgramson, KX News.

If you'd like to donate time or money, visit www.wchsnd.org. (www.WC-HS-ND.org)